Historic Scotland’s Rangers Service is recruiting young nature detectives for school holiday events at two outstanding historic sites - Linlithgow Peel and Blackness Castle. The Rangers have planned a host of exciting outdoors activities for primary-class children, with fun hands-on Tuesday morning sessions at both sites aimed at encouraging and enabling youngsters to learn about and appreciate wildlife and the natural environment.

If Mary Queen of Scots is one of the heroines of history whom you’d most like to meet, then here’s your opportunity. Join us at Linlithgow Palace for A Queen’s Progress and you’ll not only have a chance to meet the monarch, but also be able to find out how this magnificent royal residence would have prepared for a regal visit by Mary and her entourage. On Saturday 4th and Wednesday 22nd July and Saturday 8th and Friday 21st August, visitors to the splendid Renaissance ruins of Linlithgow Palace are invited to meet living history performers who aim to bring to life the ways in which this majestic property and favoured Stewart seat would have readied itself for the arrival and stay of Mary Queen of Scots and her party.

Bookings are now being taken for the three remaining dates in this summer’s series of guided tours of Rowallan Old Castle, one of Ayrshire’s historic hidden gems. For more than 400 years, this fine Renaissance property set in beautiful countryside was home to one of the area’s most important and influential families - the Muirs. They were renowned for their cultural interests and as writers, historians and composers, and indeed, Scotland’s earliest surviving lute music was written at Rowallan Old Castle.

Edinburgh’s skyline is shaped by Holyrood Park’s distinctive crags and most famous landmark, Arthur’s Seat. And throughout July and August, the Park’s Ranger Service is hosting a series of special guided walks to share their expert knowledge of this stunning city centre landscape.
Taking place every Wednesday from 1pm – 3pm, the walks will highlight the history of this fascinating landscape, its geological and archaeological features, and the wildlife that thrives in this natural habitat in the heart of the capital.

The 12th-century stronghold of Aberdour Castle will provide a dramatic backdrop on Sunday 5 July for a captivating re-telling of the story of the political intrigue and mystery surrounding the murder of David Rizzio, private secretary to Mary Queen of Scots. Step back in time to 1566 to meet one of the most important members of the Red Douglases – James Douglas, the 4th Earl of Morton – and hear his account of the riveting tale and his role in it.